Top finished, Back made...going out to eat!

I got a late start today because I went and had a haircut. I feel like a new person! Back in the studio, Mr Wazoo quilted a Christmas gift for a customer's granddaughter. It is a pretty Florida style quilt, with soothing shades of teal and aqua on a white background.

A simple pattern, but beautiful when finished.

Panto: Waterworld

The backing is this blue wavy fabric.

I finished the cats  quilt while Millie did the quilting on yesterday's leftover project. Both are looking good! I need to quilt and bind the class sample, but should be able to do that tomorrow.

This is such a happy quilt! I wish it was mine.

Brick and block pattern with the panto, Modern Squares.

The quilting shows up best on the solid backing.

It is an oversized queen quilt.

My class sample is ready to be quilted. I have a Jane Sassaman print for the back. It should be binding ready tomorrow at quitting time!

Big enough for a lap quilt at 56 inches square.

We stopped quilting early today so we could go out to a local eatery for a change of pace. Full of beef tips and peppers, I plan to watch another episode of Agatha Raisin tonight!

Class sample taking shape

 It may look as though I have been taking it easy of late, but I have not. There is a top secret quilt on the frame that I can't show you. My customer has plans for it, and doesn't want pictures put on line. Take my word for it, I am making progress on it (it is a custom job) and should have it finished and going home by next week.
Millie was resting this morning, but I put her into service in the afternoon with this customer quilt. I almost finished it, but time ran out and I was hungry! I'll finish it tomorrow.

Almost done. Look at how dark it is outside the window! Daylight savings makes it pitch black at 6:00pm! Oh well, it was raining, so Molly and I took the stairs today instead of walking up outside.

Remember the class I'm teaching at the guild retreat? Stairway to Cat Heaven is the name of it. I have been working on getting it put together so I can get it quilted and finished by the 19th. Here is my progress so far...

This is the picture from the original magazine.

I had the strip sets made, so sewing blocks went quickly.

I put together the blocks and added the background.

Then I then assembled the applique pattern and traced the parts off onto the fusable.
The fabrics on the right are for the cats and the moon. The applique was done by machine with the buttonhole stitch. Every time I advanced the custom quilt, I stopped quilting and sewed a bit on this project.

Just before leaving the studio, I added the black inner border and made two of the pieced borders, too. It looks pretty good, if I do say so myself! Finishing it will be delayed until afternoon tomorrow. I have an appointment to get my hair cut.
Sometimes I need a bit of 'me' time!

Oooooh! Choosing fabrics for a couple of projects!

I pulled some fabric for my class sample I need to make before the 19th. I know what I want it to look like, so the selection was a breeze. Cutting came next, closely followed by some strip piecing. I can hardly wait to see it start to come together tomorrow.

This is the quilt. I made one years ago for a class, but it is currently hanging in the Young Harris library and won't be available by the 19th. It is all Halloween fabrics.

Here are the sets I made this afternoon. The quilt will be more bright and colorful than the one in the picture.

The giant quilt from yesterday was quilted on the Millie, and took all day to do. It turned out nice, and I am happy I don't have to do the binding!!

This will look really beautiful on a queen bed.
It is 96 inches wide and 110 inches long, enough for a pillow tuck.

It started out as a throw, but the customer said it got bigger and bigger as she added blocks and borders.

The panto is Forest Floor, a very thread heavy, complicated pattern. Each row took a full bobbin!

The backing is a nice rust color.

In the afternoon, I made a trip to town to get the fabrics for the flower garden quilt. I should be able to get it started by the weekend. I also picked up the fabric for the sky in the class quilt. I love our fabric shop!!

It was also my grandson's birthday today. He turned four, and his Papa made him a rainbow cake. He really has a thing for rainbows! Before his bedtime they opened and built stuff with the new Lego. It doesn't take much to make this boy happy. What a cutie!

My son is a wonderful baker, and makes delicious cakes, cookies and pies!

Mmmm...cake and ice cream! And a silly kid.

Papa and Dechen making something from Lego.
Happy Birthday!

Catching up with work!

I finished the binding on the repaired quilt and the owner is coming to pick it up next weekend. Whoever had the quilt over the years took very good care of it. No big holes or stains. A really soft and cuddly family quilt.

So pretty and fresh looking for an 'old lady'. I figure this quilt was made around 1940, making it  almost 80 years old! (Molly is in her spot, waiting for someone to come to the door.)

No more open seams!

A nice new binding to finish the transformation. Ready for another 80 years.

On the Millie was the quilt I loaded yesterday. It is also done. Very pretty!!

This will be a signed comfort quilt for a member of the evening guild.

Panto: Splat

I like the back, too!

The next vintage customer project I am tackling is a Grandmother's flower garden quilt started by the customer's Mom. She made the flowers free-standing, and hand quilted them. I am going to applique them to white backgrounds, set them on point, and add a buttery yellow border with the setting triangles. The customer provided a picture of a similar quilt she liked with the yellow border. I need to make one more flower to have enough for a queen sized quilt. The flowers are huge and need 18 inch blocks as background. I'll get the fabrics I need tomorrow, and get going on this.

Just another odd project to challenge my quilting skills...

Last thing today, I loaded and started the quilting on a king sized quilt with beautiful Autumn colors. There was an open seam on this quilt like the Christmas one from yesterday. I went all over the quilt in case there were any more, but there was only the one. A quick stitch up on the Bernina and it was off to the races. I imagine this will take most of the day tomorrow. The panto the customer selected is complicated and a real thread eater. Each bobbin only does one and a half rows! The quilt is 110 inches long, so Millie will get a good workout.

Millie is resting up until I get back to the studio.

Mr Wazoo told me today to start looking at new Apple laptops, as ours is showing it's age. It is getting slower and slower as well as frequently crashing. I've been limping along with it, restarting over and over to keep it going. The man says the new computer is my Christmas present. Ooh la la!! I love to shop electronics!!

Making headway

I hope you all had a fun weekend and enjoyed the extra hour. I slept through the 'fall back' and it was great!
Things are moving along with quilting and repairs. I finished another repair job and need to do  the hand sewing of the binding before giving it a wash and getting it home to the customer. Here's where it started...

Innocuous looking, but covered with seams that popped open. I put a safety pin in everywhere it needed repair. 

I wish you could feel how soft this quilt is from years of gentle use.

The fabrics are in very nice condition.

It only needed a good dose of TLC.

It had the back folded to the front for binding. I took it apart and carefully trimmed it off.

When I finished that, I made new binding and got it sewn on by the end of the day. I'll show you some 'after' pictures when it's done. This picture shows the wear on the edge.

Christmas is in the air here, and I had this quilt to do for a gift. The maker's husband is the recipient. Her backing was way too small, and she opted to use fabric I had in my stash to do the job instead of the plaid flannel she brought with her. In the end she was very pleased with the quilt.

I also had to remove the eyes and buttons from the snowmen and re-attach them when the quilting was done. Note to customers; save the embellishments until after the quilting is completed.

Panto: Let it snow

I had five yards of this Christmas candy fabric in my stash. It matches well!

Next I worked on another too small backing (ironically, another Christmas quilt) and had it loaded and going in a jiffy. Unfortunately, the quilt maker had misaligned fabrics on a seam, leaving it open, and the hopping foot got completely wedged in the hole. It took almost half an hour to free it and left a 1/2 inch hole in the quilt. This happened on the first row! Every row after that I checked every seam to be sure they were sewn shut. When I finished the quilting, I carefully repaired the hole with patches on the front and back. Did not make me a happy camper...

Here is the finished quilt.

The quilt maker's husband builds hot-rods, and she found this hot-rod Santa fabric for the project.

Panto: Let it snow. I've used this a lot lately!

I added 8 inches to the width and six inches to the length to have the backing fit. It is the snowman fabric seen in the top left of the picture. Another of my stash finds.

This patch was as close as I could get to the original reindeer fabric color. She can change it if she has more of the fabric at home.

For the other patch, I used a bit of the leftover fabric after trimming to fussy cut and match where the hole is. Can you spot it? Look closely at the horse...

This quilt was already hand quilted and bound, but the customer asked if I could add more quilting. The original quilter only did echo quilting very close to the appliquéd elements and next to all the seams. The quilt maker wanted feathers in the backgrounds on the flowering vines. Voila! Another finish.

Here is the completed quilting.

Lots of feathers, just as she desired.

Her applique is exquisite.

I also took some time to get the circle edges turned and the applique done on the black and red quilt. The blocks are sewn into rows but I haven't had time to get the rows together. I'm a bit disappointed the little red strips don't line up perfectly, but not enough to take them all apart and try again.

Little by little, it's getting there.

I left the studio at six o'clock to get supper going. I loaded this pretty quilt and have two rows done. It is a good head start on the work to be done tomorrow!